NEW YORK (AFP) - A US federal judge ordered Martha Stewart to report to prison by October 8, following the lifestyle diva's request to begin her five-month jail sentence for obstruction of justice as soon as possible.
Stewart, convicted earlier this year on charges stemming from a dodgy stock deal, had last week requested Judge Miriam Cederbaum to assign her to prison without waiting for her appeal to be heard.
Stewart, who has built a multimillion-dollar, home catering business empire, said she wanted to put the "nightmare" of her criminal case behind her and "reclaim my good life."
The move appeared aimed at ending the uncertainty weighing on her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, even though she has left the board and the post of chief executive.
In her surrender order Tuesday, the judge also recommended that the 62-year-old be sent to a minimum security prison in Danbury, Connecticut, or Coleman, Florida.
Stewart and her former broker, Peter Bacanovic, were convicted in March of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and making false statements over Stewart's sale of nearly 4,000 shares in the biotechnology company ImClone Systems.
She did not face criminal charges of insider trading, but of thwarting the probe into the questionable trade.
At her trial, prosecutors charged that Stewart was tipped off by Bacanovic to sell the ImClone stock in late 2001, just before a government announcement about an ImClone drug sent the share price plummeting.
Stewart and her broker had argued that they had a pre-existing agreement to sell the stock if the price dropped below 60 dollars a share.